7° FISH CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
yet in our ignorance, to feed the fry, it was hoped that they could 
be trained to endure sea water and find food in it as they do in 
river water when we transport them inland. 
Concerning the alewife in fresh water, the Watertown, N. Y., 
Times said, in June, 1878: “In the bay at Dexter they are hav- 
ing a great run of small fish at the present time. The species is 
new down there, and they are called shad and ‘herring.’ They 
are only caught in nets, and in such great quantities that they 
are almost valueless. They are soid at twenty-five cents per bar- 
rel, and farmers are buying them for manure.” The fish proved 
to be one of the species of alewife and not young shad, as some 
of the fishermen supposed, as proved by the following letter 
from Dr. Bean written to me shortly after in reply to one in 
which I sent the account : 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE, Washington. 
Mr. FRED. MATHER.—Your letter and article on a supposed shad in 
Lake Ontario particularly attracted my attention. The Institution 
has received specimens of the so-called shad, and also from Cayuga 
and Seneca lakes, New York. These fishes were not shad, but ale- 
wives, Pomolobus pseudoharengus. The individuals from Lake Ontario 
were spent females and could not be distinguished from the average 
alewife of the coast, even by their size. The Cayuga and Seneca Lake 
specimens were young females and males. The ova of the females 
was quite immature. These alewives differ from the coast alewife 
only in séze. I have compared the last specimens with a large series 
from the coast, and find no other difference. 
Yours very truly, 
TARLETON H. BEAN. 
It is evident that the alewife is not appreciated at its full value 
among the people residing near itsnewhome. It isa fish of great 
value, coming in enormous schools, and when they learn to eat 
it in its fresh state and salt it for winter, they would grieve to 
lose it. It is not a fine fish in the epicurean sense, but like the 
farmer’s pork barrel, it is a good reserve to draw upon when the 
butcher fails to get through the snow drifts. 
There are many good fishes which can safely be transplanted 
from salt water to fresh, and one object of this paper has been 
to show that it can be done with certain species if done gradu- 
